everafterhighfandomcom-20200222-history
User blog:Parrotbeak/Wiki Anniversary
I'm not going to make this a big deal, but I don't want to let the day just go by. Today, it's a year ago that I clicked the "Create a Wiki"-button and, well, the rest is history. I've sentimentally been working towards this day a little in the past week - getting a background I always wanted and updating the main page, while getting a few pages and facts up to date. I know the main page profiles are a little boring fact-wise right now, but that's because the franchise is young and many characters still suffer profile illness (ie, they are little else/more than their (theoretical) profile). The design works much better for Monster High characters, who have three years advantage, but that's nothing that another year of Ever After High can't fix. The Wiki, at least, is ready for it. A year ago, the three introduction websites were still live rather than redirects to the main website. The second updates had just gone online. I'd been thinking since Cupid's announcements about setting up a new wiki (the name "Ever After High" was at the time only known due to the trademark and because the websites' soundfiles were ripped and found to be titled such). I wanted to have the information stored, but clearly it didn't fit on the MHWiki. None of my wiki buddies then thought a new wiki was already in order, but I figured it could at least not do any harm either. Still wasn't quite prepared for May 30th, which depending on your views is EAH's anniversary, but a lot better than if nothing had been prepared. As for Ever After High itself, coming from Monster High my expectations of back-then aren't met. I've talked in detail about the racial imbalance of the cast and the upcoming Thronecoming contest placed next to MH's prom contest is a clear reminder that EAH has a lot of improving to do. I also feel that the "magical" aspect isn't as present as it was implied to be. The TV specials are spot-on in being enchanting, but the regular webisodes miss it. Not that I expect such a hard to write/animate part to be ever-present, but a little more than this would be nice. Fortunately, I do detect an increase, so here's to hoping the line will continue. On the upside, the designs/dolls are consistently gorgeous (though I wish they'd have individual art and not the same bases reused over and over) and oh-so-thankfully do not follow the Disney designs like every other fairytale franchise does. I still enjoy thinking back on the days that we all thought Legacy Day would be the end. That was a brilliant move I'd love to see repeated. And I adore the worldbuilding, especially the encompassing selection of stories deemed fit for fairytale context. I can't wait to see who'll be added in the future (mind that San Diego Comic-Con is coming up soon. EAH likely will have a stand this year! And a stand means announcements/reveals for up to February when Toy Fair happens.) Now, there's one more thing I need to specifically address in this post, and that's the biggest down of the past year - the Official Wiki Fiasco. It's been on my mind for the past week due to this anniversary and the missed opportunities in it. Like, I've already written about how I've/we've/the wiki's been treated, so I won't repeat that, but on the off-chance Mattel would want to give the partnership another shot one day, I do think it's important that I explain why I've come to dislike that I promised to agree a second time. For the partnership, there were lots of promises, of which in the end only a personality quiz and three trailers, two of which donated after the actual video had already gone online and one of which removed seconds after, came through. Now, I won't say I have the easiest personality, but I did accept everything wanted in return, including things that directly went against my sense of equality and fairness (it was promised not to last longer than a month - the wiki ended up with it for half a year) and which I had explicitly said beforehand were things I did not want. Once the end came, Wikia offered a few things to help the wiki along. I thanked for the gesture, but said I needed time to (re)find a plan for the wiki first. Instead of respecting that, my wish was ignored (again) and the offers were made directly to the community in a blog post without word of that beforehand (also using words that implied that the partnership always was meant to be temporarily). Now, I don't mean to say that I don't want you all to have input, but this is not about that - this is about a pattern of continuous disrespect from Wikia. As well, one of the offers was a new background, one of which I liked but would like better with a wider gradient and a lighter hue. Apparently, "wider gradient and a lighter hue" reads to Wikia as "can you make it all pink, please!". Considering a history of my requests being squarely ignored in favor of Wikia's ideas, that's when I decided to stop speaking to them (and made my own background eventually). Which went well for a while. (A while back, Mattel released a much more impressive personality quiz on their website and we have an article on that, so that's why I deleted the personality quiz here if anyone was wondering. Second fiddle isn't the style I'm aiming for.) Until I found that Wikia nowadays is distributing the trailers to other EAHWikis at will, since their exclusiveness apparently was only temporarily anyway. I don't mind other wikis having them, if only because they were worth nothing even when this wiki first got them, but it's still like I was promised cake for all if I jumped through some hoops and instead I got three soggy biscuits that others get for free. And to top it off, Wikia insinuated that I'm out to sabotage other EAH-themed wikis like Wikia's conveniently forgotten that they pushed the EAHWiki to care more about getting high on Google's lists rather than about proper content display. I never cared for, nor ever will care for, pageviews - what matters to me is content quality. So, these days, while still having to deal with reputation damage that I'm sincerely scared to be used against me personally, the thought of doing this all over is not one that ensures my calm. Mattel's inexperience & incompetence in dealing with a wiki is extremely counterproductive, but sort of not entirely impossible to understand, while Wikia has shown itself to be only willing to think in pre-decided general designs that may not fit the specific context and "politely" ignore any suggestion to the contrary. I do not think there's much success in any future endeavor when the in-between person doubles as a wall. I mean, I will try again if such is relevant, but if I'm not assertive enough for it as I am, then I hesitate to risk a second "the partnership has ended". Just so you all know how things are standing. On a lighter note, I want to thank the regulars of the EAHWiki for their presence and participation. Many of you are new faces compared to a year ago and I'm happy to see that the EAHWiki has managed to obtain a crowd of its own. I hope this wiki continues to be a source of information and a worthwhile addition to your fandom experience. Category:Blog posts